Dream Date Giveaway!

The fabulous folks over at Natural Delights Medjool Dates contacted me and asked if I would like a bunch of V.I.P. vouchers to give away to my readers. I was like, “heck yes I would!” and they arrived in the mail shortly after, no strings attached. So just to get this out of the way: The Natural Delights people rock, they gave me a bunch of freebies to share and told me to do and say whatever I felt like, which was very trusting/nieve/awesome of them!

My first idea was to secretly plant the dates at a dog park and then go around “picking up dog poo” and eating it (cause we might as well get this outta the way too: dates look kinda poop-like) all while filming peoples reactions. As HILARIOUS as that looked in my brain, my party-pooper wise husband figured that the Natural Delights people probably didn’t have that on their radar when they said I could do whatever I want. So instead, I went with my second idea: bake something delicious (more what they had in mind, Im sure).

Now, its a known fact that dates are not only totally crave-able, they are also a major superfood. They are packed with all kinds of crazy nutrition: antioxidants, fibre, vitamins and mineral galore. Knowing this, I feel a LOT less guilty about what I did to them…

Thats a piece of heaven folks, otherwise known as Sticky Toffee Pudding. Rich, chewy dates blend right in to become a decadent dessert, smothered in hot caramel and topped with whipped cream. Take THAT, vitamins and minerals! Jk it is still doing ok nutritionally (not that nutrition has anything to do with why I eat it), but it helps with the binge-eating remorse for sure! And hearing my six-year old ask for more “ticky toffee poo-DANG” is reason enough to make it all the time, even if it wasn’t delicious. Poo-dang is the best word ever.

How I Do It: Finely chop the dates, discarding the pits as you go. Place them in a bowl and pour the boiling water mixed with baking soda on top (its amazing how ugly that bowl of dates will look, just warning you). Let that just hang out and in a separate bowl, beat your butter and sugar together. Add your eggs, mix for another minute and then add the baking powder and salt. Add your flour and the ugly contents of the dates/water bowl and stir juuuust until everything is incorporated. Pour it into a greased 8×8 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 mins. A toothpick should come out mostly clean, do not over bake this!

Once its out of the oven, stab at it with a fork to make it all full of small holes and then pour about a half of a cup of warm caramel sauce over top (oh yeah, you should make some caramel sauce while the poo-dang is baking, the recipe is HERE. Or you could use store-bought sauce…if you want to ruin your dessert). Save the rest of the caramel sauce to pour over individual pieces and top them with whipped cream, oooohohohohoo its just so GOOD!

This recipe is best the day after you bake it and must must MUST be served warm. Hot even! But cold is an abomination.

ISN’T THAT THE BEST CHARM BRACELET EVER!?!?! My pal Dot over at Busted Button made it just for this giveaway!!! Its one-of-a-kind folks and I can mail this sucker anywhere in the world! Dot saved the day, non-Canadians!! (Canadian-Canadians can obviously enter to win this too). Here is how you can enter to win:

Now for those of you who don’t win one of these fabulous prizes, do not despair! You can do what I do when Im sad and eat high calorie foods! Sticky Toffee Pudding has super powers and can transport you to other worlds. Places where people sit up straight and use words like “verily”…

Any dessert with the power to do THAT is worth making asap, whether you win or not ;)

So just to recap:

-Natural Delights Medjool Dates are awesome and you should check out their website HERE for more recipe ideas and info!

-Sticky Toffee Pudding makes me feel like Im in an episode of Downton Abbey even when I am actually looking like a disgusting mom-troll.

–Comment “poo-dang!” on THIS PHOTO and SHARE the photo to be entered to win one of four coupons (up to $15.99 value) from Natural Delights Medjool Dates (for Canadians only).

–Comment “Dot is my dream date!” on THIS PHOTO and SHARE the photo to be entered to win the best charm bracelet EVER from Busted Button (open to everyone, anywhere). And be sure to check out the Busted Button Facebook page HERE. Dot is an incredible blend of talent and inappropriate-ness that is sure to entertain ;)

–EXTRA ENTRY (or first entry if you are a anti-social media and don’t have a Facebook account): Comment on this blog post answering the following question: What is your go-to comfy/ugly at home outfit? Or are you one of those weird people who stays nicely dressed until bedtime?

Karley Breese -My go-to home outfit is a pair of XL Nike sweatpants with a (small) hole in the bum and a baggy Pittsburgh Penguins t-shirt. My husband just loves it, especially when I fool myself into thinking this is an acceptable outfit to wear to drop the kids off at school…ReplyCancel

December 18, 2013 - 2:17 pm

Leanne -My comfy ugly to to outfit, is to stay in my pj’s ALL day! And then back to bed…just to do it all again the next day :)ReplyCancel

Emily-I have a super comfy pair of Calvin Klein pj bottoms, which are barely attached to the waist band. I love them, shame people don’t love my bum in them…ReplyCancel

December 18, 2013 - 4:27 pm

liz-My home clothes are velour pants, slippers, pink sweatshirt. Hair in a pony-tail no makeup. If its chilly- wrapped in a blanket.ReplyCancel

December 18, 2013 - 4:59 pm

Farrah-My go-to comfy outfit is any of my boyfriends t’shirts that happens to be sitting in the ‘folded washing but still to be put away’ basket, with a pair of very faded Peter Alexander pyjama bottoms and of course, the piece-de-resistance, my fluffy grey uggboots… because they are basically a uniform in Bogantown (Rockingham), Western Australia where I live!ReplyCancel

Brianne -A pair of green pyjama pants that have purple bamboo all over them and what I call my blue pregnancy dress because I lived in it when I was pregnant and now it’s just soooo comfy! Not gonna lie, I wearing this outfit right now ;)ReplyCancel